Friday, October 11, 2013

james bailey pictures, Lake Travis football 2013 v Aikens

James Bailey and Luke Hutton.

James Bailey's fumble recovery for TD.

James Bailey celebrating his TD with Feno Pearson.

James Bailey, Lake Travis football 2013 v Aikens article

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/cavaliers-unsatisfied-after-30-point-win-over-akin/nbLzR/

Cavaliers unsatisfied after 30-point win over Akins

By Jay Plotkin

Lake Travis View contributing writer

With two significant scoring bursts, Lake Travis did more than enough to defeat Akins Thursday night at Burger Stadium. But four turnovers and a blocked punt kept the Cavaliers from thoroughly enjoying the 58-28 win.

Lake Travis (now 5-1, 3-0) scored the game’s first 23 points and then responded to a Cavalier-aided Akins run with five unanswered touchdowns in the second and third quarters to open up a 58-12 lead. Akins turned three of Lake Travis’ four turnovers into touchdowns and added a safety on a blocked punt to close the gap in the fourth quarter. “There were plenty of things that we did well,” Carter said, “but that was not a crisply played game by us.”

As they’ve done in each of their previous District 15-5A games, Lake Travis got off to a fast start on both sides of the ball. Dylan Tracy kicked a 42-yard field goal on the game’s opening possession, and the Lake Travis defense forced the first of four consecutive three-and-outs from Akins. The Cavaliers scored three consecutive touchdowns. Shaun Nixon scored on a 3-yard run, Dominic De Lira hit Tyler Payne for a 62-yard score, and Nixon scored from 18 yards out. When Nixon returned an Akins punt 37 yards to the Eagles’ 38, Lake Travis led 23-0 with 2:18 left in the quarter.
After a penalty, De Lira tried to connect with Dominic Packer, but the pass bounced off his hands and into the arms of Akins’ Teddy Lowery, who returned it 61 yards for a touchdown. Packer’s night went from bad to worse when he fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Akins converted that into a 13-yard scoring pass from Ryan Medrano to Marshall Trevino, cutting Lake Travis’ lead to 23-12 entering the second quarter. “The turnovers just can’t happen,” Carter said. “Give Akins credit. They did some good things and they played hard, but we turned the ball over way too much. And when we do that and put our defense out there on the 15-yard line, the defense needs to hold them to a field goal attempt and we didn’t do that.”

Akins had momentum until De Lira converted a third-and-14 from his own 27. He scrambled away from pressure and flicked a pass to Grant Foster, who carried it 56 yards to the Akins 17. On the next play De Lira hit Payne in the end zone.

Lake Travis’ defense got into the act on Akins’ next play. Zach Davies plucked the ball loose from Lowery and James Bailey scooped it up and raced 25 yards for a touchdown, extending Lake Travis’ lead to 37-12. After another Akins punt, Packer atoned for his fumble by racing 71 yards for a score, and Nixon added a third score after Cameron Marsh recovered another Akins fumble. Nixon capped Lake Travis’ scoring with an 8-yard run midway through the third quarter, ending the night for Lake Travis’ starters.

Akins scored twice against Lake Travis’ reserves, including a 43-yard pass from Medrano to Trevino on the drive that followed a safety when the Eagles blocked De Lira’s punt through Lake Travis’ end zone. Nixon finished with 119 yards on just 12 carries and four touchdowns. Packer caught three passes for 43 yards and added the 71-yard touchdown run. Payne caught four passes for 98 yards and two scores. De Lira completed nine of 17 passes for 213 yards.

Medrano completed eight of 20 passes for 136 yards and two scores to lead Akins.
In the end, Lake Travis did what it needed to do, but the four turnovers and some costly, unnecessary penalties will give the coaches plenty to work on this week. “We have to expect more,” Carter said. “At times, our effort wasn’t what it needed to be, and we have to fix that. That’s the difference. If you want to be a championship team, you can’t play to the level of your competition. We need to be 100 percent in control of how we play, and we didn’t do that at times last night. The players, the coaches, we all need to do better than that.”

Lake Travis will be back in action next Friday when it welcomes Anderson for Homecoming.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

LT View article, James Bailey: "bailey-a-game-changer-in-rout-of-bowie"

LT View article: "bailey-a-game-changer-in-rout-of-bowie"

By Jay Plotkin

Lake Travis View contributing writer

Earlier this season, Lake Travis coach Hank Carter pointed out something that might be going unnoticed with the Cavaliers’ defense. Tackle Zach Davies and end Michael Islava have been playing very well, the coach said, forcing opponents to take more than one lineman to block each. That, in turn, takes blockers away from Lake Travis’ linebackers and defensive backs.

“What ends up happening is a lot of times Zach ends up creating opportunities for other players to make some plays,” Carter said following his team’s 51-12 win over Austin High two week ago. “That’s good, and Mikey is going to do that as well. Those guys are a tough match-up.”
In last Friday’s 43-0 win over Bowie, junior rover James Bailey might have benefited from the extra attention Bowie’s linemen paid to Davies and Islava. Or, he simply continued the process of rounding into form after missing the season’s first two games due to injury.

“It’s fair to say I was trying to make up for lost time,” the junior said Tuesday.
Bailey wasted no time changing the game and sparking the Cavaliers’ rout. In the first quarter, he blocked a punt, recovered a fumble and registered a sack of Bowie quarterback Austin Eschenburg. In all, Bailey registered eight tackles, including two for a loss, and the sack, fumble recovery and blocked punt, but his fast start – especially with the block in the opening minute — set the tone for an unexpected blowout.

The Cavaliers didn’t plan on blocking that first punt – they had the return call on. But when the snap sailed a bit high, Bailey took advantage, Carter said. “But if there’s a bobble or a bad snap, then he’ll be there to block it, and he made the play,” the coach explained. “We needed it at a time where we really needed to get the momentum going. It was a great way to start the ballgame. He had a pretty good first quarter.”

On the next possession, Bailey recovered a fumble when teammate Chris Roller knocked the ball from Bowie’s Steve Johnson, who had beaten Bailey for a third down catch.” “He beat me to the outside, and then I missed the tackle,” Bailey said. “Chris Roller came over and he poked the ball out. I saw it and had to jump on it real fast. The sack was just doing what I have to do and just getting there.”

The sack came with the Cavaliers up 14-0, having converted the first two breaks Bailey provided into scores from Dominic Packer and Shaun Nixon. Bailey lined up covering Johnson in the slot, then crept toward the line of scrimmage and blitzed at the snap. Bowie never adjusted its blocking, and Bailey took care of the rest.

“Our coaches teach us how to disguise our blitzes, and we worked on the snap and the cadence, so I timed it off that,” he said. “I was a little surprised because I had a free shot.”
In the end, Lake Travis held Bowie’s previously balanced attack to just 130 yards of offense. The Bulldogs crossed midfield just twice, and their best scoring chance ended with a missed 47-yard field goal. Carter said he didn’t expect his team to completely shut down Bowie’s offense, but the team’s preparation paid off.

“I know that our kids worked really had during the week and felt like they had a really good grasp of what Bowie was going to try to do, and they ran to the football,” Carter said. “That was a big deal. We tackled pretty well, and even if we missed the tackle, guys were there to back them up because they were hustling to the ball.”

Bailey noticed that Lake Travis’ fast start took Bowie out of the game emotionally.
“They just had no life,” he said. “Usually, when we saw film and when we went to their game with Westlake, they were fired up. But they were just kind of quiet. Their sideline wasn’t all hyped up. Any time you can shut someone out, it feels good.”

Lake Travis will look to keep feeling good. At 2-0 in District 15-5A play, the Cavaliers stand alone atop the standings with games against Akins, Anderson and Del Valle to play before closing the regular season against Westlake and moving on into the postseason. Bailey knows there is still work ahead. “We’re not where we need to be yet, but I feel like we’re going to strive to get better,” he said. “We need to practice hard. When we don’t practice hard, we begin to drag and we don’t go out there and try to shut everyone down or out. Each day, each week, we just need to prepare and take care of the things we have to.”

While the next three opponents may pose huge threats on paper, Carter said the Cavaliers will continue to give each opponent their best shot. “We’ll go out there and we’ll play Akins and give them our best shot,” he said. “Their record doesn’t indicate that they are as strong as some of the opponents we’ve played so far, but we’re going to go out there and play as hard as we can.”

Lake Travis isn’t looking past Akins, but Carter said his team is preparing for the long haul, not just games in the coming weeks. “We stress that we’re playing Akins this week, but at the same time we’re trying to improve for week one of the playoffs, week two of the playoffs, week 15 or week 16,” he said. “That’s what our mindset needs to be.”

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

James Bailey pictures, Lake Travis v Westwood district game 2013

James Bailey with his mother.

James Bailey pictures from Lake Travis versus Austin High 2013

James Bailey with his Defensive Backs coach, Ryan Luedeke.

Lake Travis v Bowie article mentioning James Bailey with picture

Jay Plotkin article

Cavaliers convincingly bounce Bowie from ranks of unbeaten

Football pundits around Central Texas tapped Friday’s Bowie at Lake Travis battle as a game of the week, a chance for Bowie to all but wrap up the District 15-5A title and secure a spot in the 2013 playoffs.

Both could happen. The unbeaten Bulldogs just needed to duplicate their previous week’s upset of Westlake.

Lake Travis had other ideas. Behind a suffocating defense sparked by junior James Bailey, the Cavaliers kept Bowie (5-1, 1-1) in the proverbial doghouse with a 43-0 domination. Lake Travis (4-1, 2-0) earned its first shutout since a 2011 blanking of Marble Falls.

The Cavaliers wasted little time taking control of the game. After a quick three and out on Bowie’s first possession, Bailey partially blocked Connor Flanigan’s punt and the Cavaliers took over at Bowie’s 35-yard line. Four plays later, Dominic De Lira found Dominic Packer for an 18-yard score. When Bowie didn’t match up on the conversion, De Lira whipped a pass to Grant Foster, who walked in for an 8-0 lead.

On Bowie’s second possession, Austin Eschenburg found Steve Johnson for an 11-yard gain on third down, but Johnson lost the ball when Chris Roller tackled him, and Bailey recovered the fumble, setting Lake Travis up in Bowie territory again.

The Cavaliers made one of their few mistakes on the next play. Offensive coordinator David Collins dipped into his bag of tricks and dialed up a double-reverse pass. By the time Shaun Nixon flipped the ball back to De Lira, Foster was alone at the goal line but uncharacteristically dropped the sure touchdown.

The drop turned out to be a delayed sentence rather than a reprieve for the Dawgs. Lake Travis marched the 38 yards in eight more plays with Nixon scoring the first of his four touchdowns from a yard out.

Bailey ended Bowie’s final first-quarter possession when he sacked Eschenburg on third down to force a punt. The Cavaliers capitalized by driving 66 yards in eight plays – six runs by Nixon – and scored on the first play of the second quarter.

Roller gave the Cavaliers a 29-0 lead when he corralled a deflected pass and returned the interception 45 yards for the Cavaliers’ second defensive touchdown in three games.

At halftime, the Cavaliers had outgained the Bulldogs 249-52, allowed only two first downs and forced Eschenburg out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury suffered late in the half.

Things didn’t get any better for Bowie after halftime, though Preston Wheeler managed to drive the Dawgs into field goal range by converting a fourth down with a pass to Mac McGarah. But Flanigan’s field goal veered wide. The Cavaliers responded with a 70-yard march capped by Nixon’s 1-yard run. His 40-yard scamper on third down got the Cavaliers into the red zone.

Lake Travis closed the scoring when De Lira found Nixon behind the Bowie defense for an 81-yard score.

Nixon finished with 189 yards rushing and another 91 receiving on the day before his birthday. Lake Travis outgained Bowie 470-130 and allowed just seven first downs. De Lira continued his solid play at quarterback, completing 17 of 27 passes for 217 yards and two scores. He didn’t throw an interception for the third straight game after tossing three in his first two.